Fiddle While It Burns
by DreadNot
Summary: Sequel to London Bridge is Falling Down. Rome is under attack. Hellsing's survivors must split up to aid the Vatican while guarding England. WIP, not forgotten.
1. Different Freedoms

_ This is set in the London Bridge is Falling Down AU. I tried to write a quick summary, but London Bridge was a very long fic, and it's hard to summarize. Most of the details clarify themselves somewhat as you read, but if you get confused, the best option is probably to go read the other bloody long fic. There's also a short fic set between London Bridge and this one, called Let's Try This Again, in which Integra and Alexander Anderson agree to set old grudges aside and to make an effort to be friends. _

_This is AU. I wrote what I thought in my twisted little head would be the end of the apocolyptic battle that is the beginning of the end of the beginning in Volume 7, therefore, there are spoilers in this fic, but they will be muddled with my take on what happens after Millennium, Iscariot and Hellsing clash in London. _

_Remember, please, I don't own these characters and have no monetary interest in them. They belong to Kohta Hirano and whatever corporate entities may have bought that portion of his soul._

* * *

Walter was sitting on the roof of the hospital staring at the stars. 

"Good evening, Angel."

"Alucard," Walter inclined his head in greeting. "Is there something I can do for you?"

Alucard sat down, "You're not the butler anymore. You don't have to cater to me."

"Old habits die hard. You, of all people, should know that."

They sat companionably for a few minutes before Alucard spoke again, "I had resigned myself to attending your funeral. I find myself unaccountably offended that Millennium achieved what I could not." He seemed uncharacteristically melancholy.

"I was rather looking forward to my funeral," Walter smiled sidelong at the vampire. "Although I will admit that it is pleasant to have regained my youth and all its advantages."

"Which advantages do you mean, Angel? I remember some aspects of your youth and the 'advantages' you had then." the elder vampire straightened up and leered at the younger man.

"Not those - or at least - not yet. Perhaps I should be grateful that the Nazis found a way to bypass the virginity requirements." Walter's smile faded. "But what I meant by advantages was to have my command of the wires and my body back to the level of my prime. I was quite put out during the attack by the Valentines to realize just how my body had betrayed me to age. Jan Valentine would never have gotten anywhere near Sir Integra in my younger days."

Alucard's smile was predatory. "I look forward to working with you again. Our plane leaves for Rome in a few hours. I have many pleasant memories of the destruction that the Angel of Death can work with such flair. The Vatican brought this on themselves, but we're going to be the ones taking out the garbage, yet again."

"I see no reason to deny that our times fighting together have been among the most alive of my life. However, it is difficult to accept the cognitive dissonance of spending much of my long life killing vampires only to be one myself now." Walter's face was troubled as he spoke. "Then there are the circumstances of my becoming a vampire."

They were both silent, thinking of the circumstances and the things that had been lost - Walter, his humanity; Seras, her mercenary and an eye; Integra, her hand; and Alucard - Alucard had lost his tantalizing moments of freedom.

He tried to lighten the moment. "It's not all bad, is it? You've adjusted much better and more quickly than Seras."

"I'm older, more experienced, more mature, and sadly, more jaded than that lovely young woman. She has changed considerably since London fell, but she still retains that innocence that is uniquely Seras. I have never met anyone quite like her. You do realize that it takes considerable strength for her to do that, don't you Alucard? She's not as weak as you sometimes complain."

Alucard scowled. "Her strength is not the strength that is needed for what we do."

"Perhaps not, but you do her a disservice by thinking her weak."

"We were talking about you, Walter, not my stubborn child."

Walter looked pleased with himself, but changed the subject, "I do agree with one of your complaints."

"About Seras?"

"No, about the medical blood. It's nourishing, but it's lacking something. I don't know what, but it always leaves me with a feeling of..." Walter searched for the right words.

Alucard cut in, "Drinking cold medical blood from a bag leaves me with a feeling akin to coitus interruptus. You're almost to bliss and then it's just... over, leaving one aching for completion."

"An interesting analogy, Alucard. A not inaccurate one, but not a comparison I would have chosen myself."

"You've been an old man too long. I remember you when you were the age you now appear. That comparison would have been one you would have chosen. You were quite a rake. I remember that one time in Istanbul-"

"Yes, I know, and for all I know there are a number of Dornez by-blows out there even as we speak." Walter shook his head at the older vampire. "Regardless, I am an old man and that will always color my thoughts and actions. Too many years as the faithful retainer instead of the Angel of Death. Too many years spent in the weapon's shop or bowing to guests. I may look like the Angel you remember, but I am not he. Nor am I Walter the butler. It has only been a few days, don't expect me to have determined who this new person is yet."

"You'll know who you are when we're fighting together again. You will be death sweeping the field of battle. It is in your nature and you know better than to fight it."

Walter shook his head again, "You don't understand. You were young when you became a vampire. You entered the stasis of unlife with the emotional maturity of someone the age you appear. Time can't change that, despite Sir Integra's fervent wish that you'd grow up." Alucard snorted derisively.

"I was an old man. I may look young now, but my mind will always be that of a man who had lived a full life and resigned himself to the inevitability of death. I think it may mitigate some of the thoughtless pleasure in killing I had when younger."

"I disagree. If even Seras can sometimes enjoy battle, you will revel in it once more. And if not, I'll enjoy it enough for both of us."

"I don't mean to be rude, Alucard, but I did come up here to be alone. Quiet introspection is usually quite calming for me. I'm afraid our conversation has achieved the exact opposite of my intent."

Alucard rose. He nodded to Walter and turned away, "I will see you on the airfield, Angel."

Walter sighed and returned to his stargazing. Alucard had meant well, but empathy was definitely not the vampire's strong suit. He knew that Alucard was still out of sorts himself, but he hadn't revealed what had happened the day in London. They all knew that Alucard had something to do with the black tide that had covered the city, leaving nothing living in its wake. But there was more to the it than he was telling. Seras made cryptic comments, but had told both Walter and Integra that it wasn't her place to tell her Master's story.

•••

Seras slumped against the wall outside of Integra's hospital room. She was getting very frustrated with her boss. Integra was not listening to anyone. The doctors and her servants all had her best interests at heart and she was being very difficult. Yes, it was good that she was up and moving, despite her injury. The doctors were pleased about that, but they were all much less pleased that Integra was not following her physical therapy regimen.

She stalked down the halls talking on a cell phone at all hours; she was rude to the nurses who brought her medications; she refused any pain relief, which made her even more difficult to tolerate; and what sleep she would take was broken by nightmares she refused to admit to having.

_The boss is a strong woman, chère. She has to keep moving or she'll think she's weak._

_But she _is_ weak. She needs to rest and take care of herself._

_She also needs to take care of England. You know that. She'll let herself rest when the job is done._

_Dammit, she's not going to stop until she can take care of the world and that's just not going to happen._

"Am I interrupting something, Police Girl?"

Seras opened her eye to find herself face-to-chest with Alucard. "No, Master, I'm just worried about Sir Integra. She's not doing what she should to heal and start her rehab."

"You'll have to take care of her when Walter and I leave for Rome. I expect you to protect her from any lingering dangers from Millennium's trash."

"How do I protect her from herself?"

He looked expressionlessly down at his child. "You can never protect anyone from themselves. I'd think the two of you would know that."

It was the first time anyone had acknowledged her dual nature for what it was. Seras didn't know how to reply. _Ask him about your freedom._

"Master, since you're leaving again so soon and I don't know when I'll see you again, I wanted to ask…" her voice trailed off and Alucard waited for her to finish the question he knew was coming. He'd offered once, she had to do it herself this time.

"I wanted to ask if you'd allow me to drink your blood and be free," she finished in a rush.

Alucard looked around the hospital hallway. People bustled by, sparing the occasional curious glance for the odd pair. "Is this where you had in mind? I think the humans might be bothered by a bit of bloodsucking in the halls."

_How did you put up with him for so long?_

_Hush_. "Master, there are a number of private lounges in this building we could use. Walter probably wouldn't be too bothered if we went to the roof. I'd even go outside and drink from you in the car park, just please, stop being so difficult."

"Lead on, Seras Victoria. Show me where you would take your freedom."

"Fine." To Alucard's surprise, she grabbed his hand and began pulling him down the hallway to one of the meditation rooms the hospital kept. "In here." She pulled him through the door, closed, and locked it. "There isn't anything special we have to do first, is there?"

"If you want my blood, just come here and take it."

"Before I do, can I just ask you one more question as my Master?" She continued at his nod, "How do you control the souls you take? Pip's one thing. I don't want or need to control him, but I have Doc locked in a cell deep inside me and I wanted to know if you had a better way to do it?"

"I wouldn't say I have a better way. I have a different way, and I doubt it would work for you. You're better off using your little prison analogy if it keeps your slaves under control."

_Fine, be that way. What would a conversation with my Master be if he weren't deliberately difficult or condescending?_

She drew a deep breath and walked across the room to Alucard. "Your neck is out of my reach unless I'm going to stand on a chair."

Her Master smiled and wordlessly removed his coat and rolled up his sleeve. He held his bare arm extended within her reach. As the blonde vampire bit into the pale skin of his forearm, she was inundated with a swell of power that made her feel as though she were drinking electricity from a socket. The force of it dropped her to her knees, but she didn't let go and Alucard was forced to bend over to keep her from tearing his arm. She drank until he said, "Enough, Seras. Let go." He gently pushed on her forehead and she let go reluctantly.

"What was that?" except her question was colored with a French accent, sounding more like, "What was zat?"

"That, Captain Bernadette, was the rest of Seras' soul. You could say that I've been holding it for her until she was ready for it. Take care of my daughter, mercenary." Before either Seras or Pip could react, Alucard swept up his coat and left the room.


	2. Unlikely Allies

It would be time to go soon and Alucard had still not taken his leave of his Master. Integra had been very cold to him since the fall of London. She couldn't very well hide her reasons from him, nor could he really fault her for them, but it left both of them in not the best of moods. He was determined to see her once more before leaving. His detour with Seras and her young man had left him with less time than he wanted in which to speak with Integra once more.

With that in mind, Alucard swept through the corridors of the hospital, ignoring the humans who scattered like pigeons before him. He was barely able to suppress a snarl when he saw Iscariot's newly appointed head, Alexander Anderson, approaching Integra's door from the other end of the hallway.

The two men stopped in front of the door where they had faced each other two days before. Humans who walked by and saw the glares they directed at each other scurried away before the violence that hung in the air around the two giants exploded in the hallway.

"Judas Priest, my Master did not inform me that she had summoned you again." Looking over Anderson's shoulder, he recognized both the berserk nun he'd slammed against a wall in London and the other woman in priest's robes who had interested him that same day. He deliberately ignored Anderson's response and smiled lasciviously at the woman whose strength and personality had attracted him before. His smile broadened when she scowled at him and shifted her hands into a better position to draw her guns.

Anderson glanced over his shoulder to follow Alucard's gaze and interposed himself between the vampire and the nun. "She's a Bride of Christ, beast."

Alucard lazily shifted his gaze to his enemy's face and drawled, "Things can change, apostate. Haven't you heard of divorce?"

Anderson was snarling and reaching for his knives and Alucard his guns when Walter's clear voice cut through their rage, "Gentlemen, and I do use the term lightly, _this_ is a hospital!" Both men turned to look at the smaller man who was advancing down the corridor toward them. Somehow, the former butler was radiating a fury that cut through both of the larger men's bloodlusts.

Walter came to stand between the two of them and spoke clearly and cuttingly, "The two of you are supposed to be allies for the time being. I do not care whether you would both like to eat the other's eyes for breakfast, _now_ is not the time for such petty rivalries. Need I remind you that Millennium is not done out there? You will both pretend to be civilized for the moment or I will take an extraordinary amount of pleasure in putting both of your regenerative capabilities to the test. Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

Anderson and Alucard redirected their fury toward Walter, but the man seemed to absorb their glares and use them as fuel for his own immovable righteousness.

"Father Anderson?" Yumiko tugged at his sleeve. "Father Anderson, please don't do this."

He turned to look at the tiny Japanese nun. She had taken a head injury when Alucard had thrown Yumie against a wall in London. She had a long line of stitches across the right side of her face. Anderson didn't think she should be out of her hospital bed, but even when not berserk, the woman was stubborn. She had insisted that she at least be able to see him off when he and Sister Heinkel left with the Hellsing vampires for Rome.

With Anderson's attention shifted, Walter took advantage of the lull in hostilities to move Alucard aside. "Alucard, I know that Sir Integra has already ordered you not to start trouble with Father Anderson."

"I wasn't starting trouble, Angel. Father Anderson merely chose to take something I said personally." Alucard's grin was patently disingenuous and Walter was just as obviously not amused.

Yumiko was clearly trying to talk Anderson out of his murderous rage at the same time Walter was trying to pour some oil on the troubled waters with Alucard. With some effort, both Alucard and Anderson were calmed enough that Walter and Yumiko could stand aside and watch what they would do next.

Alucard chose to slouch against the wall and pull the brim of his hat down over his face. His voice floated from the shadows under the hat, "Go in and see my Master, Iscariot. I will see her and get my orders when you are finished."

•••

After knocking and hearing Integra's call to enter, Anderson and his two companions entered her room. The Hellsing leader looked much the same as she had when Anderson had seen her two days earlier. She was still very pale, her eyes were still tired and she still looked as stoic as ever.

"Sir Hellsing – Integra - these are Sisters Wolfe Heinkel and Yumiko Takagi." The two women murmured greetings to their former enemy.

"I remember them, Alexander. Sister Heinkel held a gun to my head when she thought I was going to harm you." She smiled faintly. "I admire loyalty. Good evening, Sisters."

"Sister Heinkel will be coming with us to Rome, but Sister Takagi's injury is too serious for her to travel. I would like to offer her services to ye while we are gone. She has many skills ye might find useful outside of those she has with a sword." Anderson seemed uncomfortable with the pleasantries, but was doing his best to work out this new relationship he had with Integra Hellsing. Since her proposal that they try to be friends, he had been wrestling with his past attitudes in opposition with present exigencies.

"That's very generous of you, Alexander. Since I'll be shorthanded while Walter and Alucard accompany you, the assistance will be welcome." She shifted her position in the bed and winced as she bumped her stump against the railing the nurses insisted she keep up. She scowled at her missing limb and commented, "The worst part is that the damned thing itches. Not the stump, mind you," she held up her bandaged limb, "my _hand_. It just doesn't seem right that I have an itch I can never scratch."

She was surprised when Yumiko spoke up, "If you'll allow me, Sir Hellsing, I think I can help you with that." The small woman stepped forward. "There's a pressure point that might help you with the phantom itch, at least, it helps with real itches and might serve the same purpose."

Integra smiled at the nun and nodded before looking back to the new head of Iscariot, "See, the assistance is already welcome."

Anderson nodded and smiled. "We must be going. Yer pet is waiting outside to receive his orders. We shan't keep ye any longer."

"Thank you Alexander. Good luck to you and God bless. Try not to get yourself killed. I have no guarantees that your replacement would be as reasonable as you are." Integra showed a ghost of her former self-satisfied smirk as she poked at the paladin.

"Aye, Integra, not everyone within Iscariot is as level-headed as I am." Anderson met her smirk with one of his own before leaving the room with the two nuns in tow.

Once out in the hallway again, he looked sternly at Yumiko, "Ye must tell her about Yumie, do ye understand?"

Yumiko flushed and turned her eyes down, "Yes Father Anderson. I understand."

•••

Walter watched both Alucard and Anderson as the Iscariots left Integra's room. He relaxed when they seemed to be willing to leave the hostilities for another time. After the three Catholics walked out of sight, Alucard pushed himself away from the wall and walked over to the door to Integra's room.

"Are you coming with me, Angel?"

Walter shook his head.

"You can't avoid her forever. You need to see her before we go, to get any final orders she may have for you."

Walter _had_ been avoiding Integra. He couldn't bear to see what he had done to her. It didn't matter whether he had been under Millennium's control at the time or not, he had been inside his mind, looking out helplessly, and had watched as his wires had taken Integra's hand from her. She had sacrificed her hand in a desperate attempt to either shake him out of the controls that Millennium had incompletely placed on him or to kill him if that failed. She had been inches from destroying him when his screaming horror at what he'd done had finally broken through the locks on his mind.

He had maimed the closest thing he had ever had to a daughter and he had fed from her bleeding stump after doing so. In the past three days, he had woken repeatedly from his sleep with nightmares of how much he had enjoyed both hurting her and tasting her blood. After the first time he had woken screaming, Seras had climbed into his coffin and held him while he slept. He tried not to think about sleeping alone during the upcoming days he'd be in Rome.

He'd lived through – well, survived - Millennium twice, he could face Integra. Walter squared his shoulders and walked through the door when Alucard opened it for him.

•••

Integra watched the two vampires enter her room and her face closed down. She was having trouble facing them for two different reasons. She was still angry with Alucard for leaving her in the hands of Millennium when he could have helped her on the zeppelin, and she couldn't look at Walter without remembering what he had done to her. She knew it wasn't fair to be angry with him, but it didn't matter. If it weren't for his wires, she would still have two good hands.

The three of them stayed in the uncomfortable silence until Alucard broke it. "Our plane leaves for Rome in twenty minutes, Master. Do you have any further orders for us?"

She gritted her teeth and tried to remember to be moderately civil, "Yes, Alucard, don't be an insufferable git to Anderson. Don't kill him, don't kill Iscariots unless they are direct threats to you or Walter. Do kill every Millennium member you can. Do not consume the entire mortal population of Rome the way you seem to have done with London. Oh, and while you're at it, do not betray me again."

Alucard's expression was carefully blank as he nodded his head in acknowledgement of her orders. "And your Angel of Death?"

Walter and his Master looked at each other with the things unsaid loud between them. His regret and her anger were clear on both their faces.

"Try not to get in any more trouble, Butler." It was a clear dismissal when Integra turned her face away from both of them.


	3. Bon Voyage

Seras sat on the shuttle bus, feeling beyond uncomfortable surrounded by Iscariots who were being ferried to the flight that would return them to battle in their own home territory. She didn't want to go to the airfield. She thought that someone should stay and watch Sir Integra, but Integra had been adamant that Seras should say goodbye to Alucard and Walter. It didn't make sense to the young woman, given how cold Integra had been to them.

_Maybe she's sending you to show them she cares? _Pip volunteered.

_Then why doesn't she just tell them, instead of making us all crazy with her moods?_

_Chère, think of who we're talking about. Do you think Sir Integra is able to tell the vampire who abandoned her to Millennium and the vampire who amputated her hand that she cares what happens to them? How nice would you be able to be in her shoes? It's only been three days. Give her time. _

_Why do you have to make sense? You're supposed to just be the pervert who ogles my breasts. _

_If you'll take another shower in the morning, I'll ogle you as much as you can stand. _

"Stop that!" The girl flushed when she realized that all eyes were now on her. She was still feeling giddy from taking Alucard's blood earlier and had forgotten herself. She sat in silence for the rest of the ride, feeling the eyes of all the humans boring into her. Their thoughts were so loud that even her unpracticed mind could catch them and the things they were thinking made her feel sad, self-conscious and more than a little bit angry.

The endless ride finally ended. Seras sat until all of the humans had gotten off the bus. She was feeling very frustrated that every one of them had made assumptions about her that were unfair and unfounded.

She jumped when the bus driver leaned over in his seat to look down the aisle at her and said, "This is your stop, Miss. Shouldn't you be getting out?"

"Yes, thank you. I'm sorry." She disembarked and looked around for Alucard and Walter.

The two vampires were standing next to a pair of coffins having an animated discussion. Seras could guess what the disagreement was over. An impish urge struck her. She dissolved into her new shadow form to reappear in front of Walter and say, "You know you have to ride in the coffin over water, Walter." She grinned broadly enough to show her upper and lower fangs when she managed to make the unflappable Angel of Death jump just a little.

"Miss Victoria, that was rather rude and you're lucky my new reflexes didn't make me do something we'd both regret."

"Angel, how can you argue with Seras? She knows from personal experience how unpleasant traveling over water is for a youngster of our kind." Alucard folded his arms across his chest and grinned.

Walter opened his mouth to argue and then stopped. "Did you just call her Seras?"

"Of course. A full-fledged nosferatu deserves the respect of her own name, does she not?"

Walter's eyebrows shot up and he looked at Seras with new appraisal. She looked the same on the outside, but there was a certain indefinable sense of power around her that had never been there before. To Walter's heightened senses, now that he was looking for it, the small woman was very different – different even from the sense of doubling he had when he looked at her - this was something else, something darker.

"I suppose I should congratulate you, Miss Victoria?"

"You can congratulate me that I don't have to call him Master any longer and that he has suddenly remembered that I have a name." Seras shrugged at him and tried not to look as pleased as she felt.

"Congratulations, it is an accomplishment I envy you. In recent days I have noticed that your Master – excuse me – I have noticed that Alucard has mostly forgotten that I have a name other than Angel any longer."

They both ignored Alucard's chuckle at his mostly sarcastic comment. Walter was surprised when Seras threw her arms around his neck and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Be careful, Walter. We nearly lost you once, don't get hurt again."

"Were you here just to fawn over the Angel, Seras?" If Seras didn't know better, she would have thought he sounded piqued.

Walter knew better and was certain that Alucard sounded piqued.

"No, I'm supposed to say good bye to you, too, but I didn't think you'd take a hug. Why? Did you want a hug or maybe a kiss on the cheek?" Now Alucard and Seras both pretended not to hear something that sounded distinctly like a snicker coming from the very proper former butler.

"I doubt that will be necessary, Seras. Why are you _supposed_ to say good bye to me?"

"You know, Pip and I were talking about that on the way here, and he thinks it's because Sir Integra wants the two of you to know that she does care what happens to you both while you're gone. I don't know what to think, but Sir Integra was insistent that we come say good bye, so here I am – here we are." _How _do_ we handle pronouns now, Pip? _He didn't reply, just laughed at her concern over something so silly.

"Anyway, good bye, Alucard. I'd tell you to be careful, but you're you, so that's pretty pointless." She turned her attention back to Walter, "You need to ride in the coffin when you're over the water. Trust me, it's bloody uncomfortable even in the coffin. I don't know how Alucard does it. Not that I know how he does much of anything." She shrugged.

"I will take that under advisement, Miss Victoria. If you say that the problem is while we travel over water, I believe that Alucard can stay out of trouble for the short period of time we'll be over the Channel. I can come out when we're over land again. I'm simply concerned about his being alone with Paladin Anderson with nobody to keep him from doing something Sir Integra would disapprove."

"Angel, we both know that right now Integra disapproves every aspect of my existence," Alucard said.

"I think she has ample reason for her disapproval, Alucard," Walter retorted.

"Oh, would you two stop it and get on the plane? The sooner you leave, the sooner you'll get back and I can stop worrying about you."

Seras looked away from the two vampires – half of Hellsing's entire personnel – and over to the airplane. She saw Alexander Anderson standing with two women and she felt an inescapable twinge of fear. He hadn't harmed, or even threatened, her during the fall of London, but he still scared her. She would never forget the feel of his knife piercing her throat. When he began to walk over to where they were standing, she forced herself to suppress the rise of terror and stand firm in front of the towering Iscariot.

"Have ye come to see off yer kin, Draculina?" he growled down at her.

"Yes, Father Anderson, I'm here to say good bye to Alucard and Walter." Seras stared up at the towering priest and tried to look sure of herself.

_Where do they grow them this big? _came Pip's amused thought.

_I don't know, but I hope there aren't any more of them where he came from, _she thought back.

Anderson watched the small woman as her face changed and a smile flickered across it, and was reminded of the scene on the zeppelin. She looked harmless, but he remembered all too well seeing her tear the throat out of another vampire and devour his blood. She was as inhuman as - he felt the familiar pain that came to him every time he thought of his divided loyalties – the girl was as inhuman as his own Mistress. If he was willing to give his soul to a goddess among vampires, how could he condemn this child? He shook himself out of his thoughts to realize that all three vampires were watching him closely. "What are ye looking at?" he nearly shouted.

"Nothing!" Seras yelped.

The tall man took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. They weren't threatening him, there was no reason for him to want to pull scores of blades from the space he carried as a part of himself and riddle the creatures in front of him with holy silver.

"Seras Victoria, I must introduce ye to someone." He turned and motioned to the women he'd been speaking with.

As they approached, Seras recognized them as the women who had attacked her and Integra when they had come to Anderson's aid in London. If Alucard had not stepped in, the towering Nazi vampire would have killed the paladin. The two women had attacked; thinking that she and Integra were there to harm Anderson, not help him. The taller, blonde woman had been the more rational of the two, listening when Anderson had told them not to attack. The smaller woman with the glasses and the ugly gash on her face, had seemed like as much of a monster as Seras was accused of being, fighting until the other woman had somehow talked her out of her rage.

Seras watched them warily, wondering what Anderson's motivation was in bringing them over.

"These are Sisters Heinkel and Takagi. Sister Takagi will be staying here when we leave. She'll be lending her skills to yer leader. Since ye two will be working together, I thought I'd introduce ye now. Sister Takagi, this is Seras Victoria of the Hellsing Organization. Ye'll not allow Yumie to hurt her, do ye understand?"

Seras was puzzled as to who this "Yumie" was, since she didn't see anyone else around. She also didn't understand why the nun seemed so embarrassed by what Anderson had told her. She put that aside and smiled and tried to be pleasant to the Iscariot woman.

"So you're bringing your delicious companion with us, Judas Priest? How considerate of you."

_Count on Alucard to stir things up, _said Pip as Anderson's face shifted to his more familiar snarl.

They were all surprised when Anderson and Alucard were both cut off by the woman in question, "Father Anderson, I can take care of myself."

Wolfe Heinkel stepped forward and looked scornfully at Alucard. "It's not going to do you any good to keep making these comments. I'd put a bullet in my own head before I allowed you to take liberties with me, and you're not going to do that because your Master wouldn't permit it. You can just stop playing your little penis games now. I'm not playing with you."

She turned gracefully and looked up at her new leader, "And as for you, Father Anderson, you may be in charge of Section XIII now, but I'd like to remind you that I have been executing heretics and traitors for many years, and not once have I had your assistance in doing so. Save the macho pretences for somebody who needs it."

They all watched, dumbstruck, as the woman strode away across the tarmac to the plane. She mounted the stairs without a backward glance. The three vampires began laughing, each for his or her own reason – Seras was thrilled to see a woman put Alucard in his place, Walter was amused to see a woman strong enough to shut up both Alucard and Anderson, and Alucard was simply delighted by the challenge she presented.

Yumiko Takagi shook as the world's underpinnings became a little less secure: Alexander Anderson joined the three laughing vampires with his own laughter. Yumie shouted from the back of her mind that it was _wrong_ that an Iscariot paladin would be laughing along with three members of the undead. She begged Yumiko to take off her glasses and let her out to silence the three demons that were stealing her leader's sanity. Her clamor became a little quieter when Anderson stopped laughing and fixed her with a steely gaze.

"Yumiko, remember what I said about telling Sir Hellsing about Yumie. The Hellsings are our allies for now, do not forget it." Without another look back, he followed Heinkel's path into the airplane.

In unison, Walter and Alucard each shouldered his coffin and walked away, leaving Seras and Yumiko as alone together as either of them could get.


	4. Travel Tales

The two women retreated into the shuttle bus as the airplane started up and the volume of the engines rose to a painful level. Seras and Yumiko sat across the aisle from each other, trying not to stare.

"So…umm…what's it like to be a nun?" Seras asked, hunting around for a topic of conversation.

"Well, technically, I'm a sister, not a nun. The terms are pretty much interchangeable these days, but canonically, a nun is cloistered, while a sister works out in the world. I couldn't get my work done behind walls surrounded by nobody but the devout. I sort of have to be out among the heathens to-" _Stop rambling like this creature is someone you can have a conversation with_, Yumie growled from the back of her mind.

_This is the woman who nearly chopped off our head in London? _Pip asked Seras.

The two – four – of them sat in uncomfortable silence while they watched the plane taxi and take off. When the driver slid back into his seat, Seras directed him to return them to the hospital in Birmingham.

_Say something, chère, we have to work with her._

_I tried that already. All it got me was a mini-lecture on Catholic history and a dirty look._

_Let me do it, I'll be a good boy._

Yumiko came out of her internal dialogue when the vampire took a deep breath and leaned forward across the aisle. She tried not to shrink away from the focused look in the creature's red eye.

"So, Sister Takagi, who's this Yumie that you're supposed to tell Sir Integra about?"

Pip snickered at his soulmate when he heard her shocked exclamation, _This is being a good boy? Asking her personal questions when the order obviously made her uncomfortable?_

"I don't think I want to tell you, Draculina." Yumiko leaned as far away from Seras as she could get and wondered why the vampire had almost sounded as though her accent had shifted. English wasn't her first language, so it was hard for her to put her finger on what the difference was.

"I don't think what you want is important, Iscariot. Our duty is to protect Sir Integra and if you know something that would be significant to her safety, you have to tell us. Put yourself in our shoes, if you thought that little Seras Victoria had information that could mean life or death for your Father Anderson, wouldn't you insist that she tell you?"

Yumie didn't like the question or the reasoning. She urged Yumiko to tell the nosy girl to go to Hell, since that was where she'd inevitably end up anyway.

Yumiko hushed her sister and watched Seras while she thought. Something familiar was nagging at the edges of her mind – something about the way this girl talked and behaved. It was the pronouns. Why was the vampire referring to herself in the plural? And there was something else…

Seras and Pip watched the nun curiously. Things were happening on her face that seemed eerily familiar to the two of them.

Yumiko made her decision, "I'll tell you. If I don't tell you now, Sir Hellsing will probably tell you when she finds out anyway." She looked down at her lap, where her hands were busily trying to take her habit apart, one thread at a time. "Yumie is a valuable Iscariot weapon. She's a skilled swordswoman and a true warrior of Christ. She's a berserker who knows no fear in her pursuit of the heathen, the heretic and of monsters.

"She also lives inside of me." Yumiko flushed angrily when Seras let out a sudden bark of laughter. "It's not funny! You don't know what it's like to never be alone inside your own head; to be afraid of what you're capable of; you couldn't possibly understand!"

"Oh, have you got that one wrong, girly," Seras and Pip got out between chuckles.

•••

Flying wasn't uncomfortable. It was much louder than Walter remembered, but he knew that was just his enhanced senses and his lack of practice in living (_existing_, his mind corrected) with them. He couldn't think of a circumstance in which he'd be comfortable on an aircraft full of religious zealots and one vampire who would take no greater pleasure than in making them lose their collective minds and tempers.

Two rows of seats at the back of the plane had been removed to make room for the traveling vampires' coffins. Walter had persuaded Alucard to sit at the rear with the coffins. He wanted to be near Alucard even when he had to retreat to his coffin for the short trip over the Channel. Because they were so near the water, Walter had compromised for the first leg of the trip by sitting in his coffin with the lid open until he would have to lie down and close the top.

He'd been walking behind Alucard when they boarded, so he didn't see what passed between him and Sister Heinkel, but whatever it was caused her to reach for her weapons before the vampire passed on down the aisle, his familiar laugh turning all of the Iscariots' heads.

Walter's greatest worry for the journey was the fact that Alexander Anderson had taken a seat directly next to the vampires. It was understandable that the Section XIII leader would want to stay close to what he would perceive as the greatest threats to his people, but Walter saw his proximity to Alucard as a disaster waiting to happen. Neither Alucard nor Anderson were the same creatures they'd been before London's destruction and Walter didn't know how either of them would behave when allowed to be near each other unsupervised.

Walter had just noticed an unpleasant itch starting all over his body when Alucard spoke, "You need to lie down and close your coffin lid now, Angel. We'll be over the water in moments." The vampire put action to words by bumping Walter's shoulder with the lid as Alucard closed it for him. Walter laid down in resignation and tried to remind himself that it was only for a brief time.

The itch intensified for a few minutes and then began to fade away. Walter distracted himself from the urge to scratch his skin off by listening carefully for any conversation between Alucard and Anderson. They were being blessedly silent and soon the itch was gone.

Alucard's rap on the lid signaled the end to his enforced confinement and he opened the top and got out with evident relief. He wasn't afraid of confined spaces and in fact, in recent days had found that his coffin was a very comforting refuge, but the circumstances of their trip made him too restless to sit in his coffin and wait for things to happen.

Anderson and Alucard watched the new vampire emerge from his cocoon. They had both restrained themselves to some meaningfully unfriendly eye contact while their babysitter was indisposed. Walter looked back and forth at the silent men to reassure himself that nothing had happened and then sat on his coffin lid where he could watch them for the rest of the flight.

Alucard was amused. The Angel certainly took his responsibilities seriously. Of course that was no surprise, but there was no small amount of irony in his position now. The Angel of Death was trying to keep a fight from breaking out. _How times change._ Walter Dornez in his youth would have been lighting the fires, not putting them out. Maybe the point he'd made on the hospital roof was true – Walter did not act like the man he'd been when he'd last worn that youthful face.

Anderson broke the silence first, clearing his throat before speaking, "We can't come in directly to Rome. The Nazis have damaged both the Ciampino and the Fiumicino airports. We'll be flying in to Perugia and picking up vehicles and armaments there. Unfortunately, Maxwell –"

"May he rest in pieces," cut in Alucard with an evil smirk.

Anderson scowled but continued, "-Maxwell took all of the helicopters to London, or I'd use those to ferry us in to Rome. If we travel fast, we can drive to Rome in an hour and a half or less. Communications have been sporadic over the past thirty-six hours, but I think we can expect things to be bad. The Nazis used a similar approach with Rome as they did with London. Unfortunately, many of the Vatican's warriors were somewhere they shouldn't have been, namely London."

"A similar approach, Father Anderson? You mean that they've wantonly and randomly attacked and destroyed the civilian population and priceless historical treasures?" clarified Walter.

"Aye, and ye know that." Anderson took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes before continuing. "What ye probably don't know is that they've had less success within Vatican City."

Alucard snorted derisively, "Don't give me some fairy story about holy ground, Judas Priest. You and I both know that the concept of holy ground is just a myth that lets some humans sleep better when the monsters prowl at night. I've killed on holy ground on more than one occasion."

Anderson's eyes lit with fury and Walter tensed, waiting to see what would come. He was surprised when the priest closed his eyes and muttered something under his breath that sounded like, "Forgive me."

The priest looked directly at Alucard and carefully enunciated, "Parts of the Vatican are truly holy ground. There are wards on some of the archives and sublevels of the city that keep out even humans in most instances. It requires special understanding to get through to some of those areas. Our mission is to protect those areas."

"Why would I want to protect some moldy Catholic secrets? And for that matter, why would you want to protect _Catholic_ secrets, apostate?"

"Alucard, despite what ye think ye know about the state of my soul, I am still loyal to the Church."

"But would the Church still be loyal to you? Do you think they'd appreciate knowing what I know about you?" asked Alucard. Walter watched with interest, not knowing what secret the two dire enemies shared.

"So we both have secrets, vampire. They're even related secrets. All ye have left is yer pride, all I have left is my service." Anderson leaned over and his green eyes glared into the red of Alucard's. "Would ye like the world to know yer fall and how it relates to mine?"


	5. Homecoming

"Let me get this straight – the two people I am counting on to help me resurrect the Hellsing Organization and to help me to protect England both contain fractured personalities? Do I have this right?" Integra's head throbbed, her stump throbbed and her phantom hand itched abominably. Having Seras tell her that the person Alexander Anderson had left her for assistance was a dual-personality berserker was doing nothing to help her already foul mood.

"I wouldn't put it quite that way, Boss." Integra watched Seras closely. She was learning to discern who was actually in the "driver's seat" so to speak with the girl. She'd say that Pip was driving at that moment. "We aren't fractured, just crowded."

The easiest giveaway was the shift in accent, but Pip and Seras had different physical mannerisms that were easy enough to spot if you were paying attention. For instance, Pip still wasn't accustomed to not having that long rope of hair to keep track of, and Integra had noticed him trying to arrange the non-existent braid around Seras' neck on more than one occasion. Integra had known in theory that this could happen, but she'd never seen it. Alucard would _never_ accept an equal position with a stolen soul. Of course, Pip's soul had been freely given, not stolen, which made a world of difference.

Integra fixed the fidgeting nun with a glare that had been known to make experienced MI5 operatives squirm in their seats. "Why don't you tell me why I should trust you, Sister Takagi?"

"I'm not fractured, either, Sir Hellsing. You seem to be able to accept your vampire's condition, and she hasn't even been living with it for as long as I have."

"My vampire is, as you so astutely noted, a vampire. Her situation with Captain Bernadette is something that is a unique risk to vampiric existence. You, however, are human, and my understanding of multiple personality disorder in humans does not make me feel very encouraged to trust you."

Yumiko took a deep breath and prepared to tell Integra Hellsing something few humans knew. "Multiple personality disorder in humans is distressing, I'll agree with you. But, I don't have MPD any more than Seras does. Do you think that Iscariot would choose to foster and train a woman like me if all that could be said about me is that when I take my glasses off, my psychotic alter-ego picks up a sword and kills every heretic and blasphemer in sight?"

Integra thought about Alexander Anderson in Badric and Enrico Maxwell in London; she didn't see why Section XIII would balk at a murderous split personality nun.

"Yumie is as much of a separate individual from me as Pip is from Seras. She sleeps more often than Pip does, but she's been riding around inside my head for a lot longer than Pip has been with Seras. Yumie was not born of some horrible childhood trauma in the manner you think."

Yumiko seemed to suddenly change subject, "How much do you know of exorcism, Sir Hellsing?"

Integra frowned. "It's a ritual intended to expel a possessing spirit or demon from its host. It's a difficult and dangerous rite and often would be better replaced by good psychiatric care. However, as the Master of three vampires and the leader of a vampire killing organization, I'm in no position to say that exorcism has no place in a rational world."

"Exactly. Sometimes the subject of an exorcism has problems that are much more mundane than a possessing spirit. Other times, though, the possession is real." Yumiko stopped and Integra and Seras watched the internal dialogue that was easy to spot when they knew what they were looking for.

"My sister doesn't want me to tell you about this." Yumiko's face kept shifting between troubled and angry. "There's only so far I can go and still maintain my own peace. I'm going to have to bow to her will on this, but I can tell you that Yumie started life as much of a separate individual as Seras' Pip did. Father Alexander can answer your questions as thoroughly and with less internal conflict than I can.

"Sir Integra, you are the master of the ultimate weapon – or so we within Iscariot see it. Neither Father Alexander nor the Vatican would run the risk of Alucard being unleashed to do to Rome or Vatican City what he did to London – especially not for me. You can trust me because it is the pragmatic thing to do."

Seras shrugged at her leader when Integra looked to her for an opinion. She blinked at the unfamiliar touch of Seras' thoughts, _I don't know what to tell you. I don't have any practice at snooping in people's heads and I probably shouldn't start on one as complicated as hers. If I have to, and she loses her mind completely, I'll take care of her. _In response to Integra's raised eyebrow and silent query, Seras continued, _I'll take care of her in whatever way is needed. I've learned a lot about choices made in war, you can count on me._

"Right." Integra composed herself and looked at her sad excuse for a fighting force – a one-eyed vampire bearing the soul of a dead French mercenary and an injured Japanese nun with a sword-brandishing alter ego. _This is what Walter might call a 'pinch' that even the first Sir Hellsing would recognize. _"Right. We have an urgent problem, among a host of urgent problems.

"Hellsing headquarters is largely destroyed. Would that it had been entirely destroyed, we would not be facing the problem we have now.

"We have to go there." Her cold glare silenced Seras with her mouth frozen in an "O" before she could argue. "Don't give me any arguments about needing to heal. I do not have three to six months to spend convalescing. The drainage tube is coming out in the morning, I will bring all of the prescriptions they keep shoving down my throat, but I must accompany you to the Hellsing Estate for this. It is non-negotiable."

"Boss," Pip spoke again, "I know a lot about missing limbs. You're making things harder for yourself in the long run. You aren't doing your physical therapy; you haven't learned to care for your wrist in a way that will let you wear a prosthesis in the future; and running off to the Hellsing Estate when you're still at high risk for infection is begging to lose more of your arm or even your life."

Seras held up her hands to placate Integra when she began to protest, "Boss, slow down. I know you're going to do this no matter what we say, I just want to offer a deal – you come with us, _but_ first thing tomorrow morning, you meet with the physical therapist and your doctors with us present. We'll all learn what's needed to help you with your PT while you're away from the hospital. Remember, we have a contract. We have to do our damnedest to keep you alive.

"All we're asking is that you remember that part of your duty is to be in the best condition you can be. We'll help you with the rest."

•••

Integra winced as the truck hit another rut in the road. She refused pain relief any stronger than an aspirin and was paying for it at that moment. She didn't ask how Seras had obtained the truck, but Integra had a good idea that Pip had a strong hand in it. The vampire slouched behind the wheel, hiding under the brim of her hat and behind the sunglasses perched on her nose. In a concession to Pip, the girl had a cigarette between her lips. In a concession to Seras, the cigarette was unlit.

It wouldn't have been a long drive if the roads had been in better condition. At least martial law kept the motorways relatively uncrowded, but it made their vehicle conspicuous. They had been stopped three times already to explain why they were out on the road. Each time it had taken protracted phone calls to clear things up. Seras had learned a lot about being a vampire, but apparently she hadn't gotten the hang of influencing weaker human minds yet.

Yumiko had been quiet during the trip. She sat in her corner of the front seat and held her katana to her chest like a comfort object. The nun didn't look much better than Integra felt. Her skin had an unhealthy pallor and the angry wound on her face was a painful contrast to her otherwise fair skin.

Integra couldn't help but wonder about Seras. She'd lost both eyes, an arm and the man she loved all in one fell swoop. Today, the only sign that the vampire had a care in the world was the eye patch behind which she hid the socket that did not regenerate. She had regrown the arm, regenerated one eye, and instead of losing her grip on humanity with her love, her love was with her more intimately than any but a vampire – or maybe one crazed Iscariot nun – could know. What had she lost, really?

Integra felt sick when she realized that she envied Seras and maybe hated her a little. She turned away when Seras glanced up from the road to give her a curious look.

_Don't let her know we heard that. She's got a right to be jealous and angry. _

_Pip, if I could help her grow back her hand, I'd do it, but the only way I can think of, she wouldn't accept, and I'm the wrong gender anyway…_

You_ are, chère, but I wonder if_ I _am?_

•••

It was mid-afternoon when the truck pulled up to the shattered gates of the estate. The walls of the mansion were standing in some areas, but nothing had escaped the ravages of Zorin's soldiers' attack. Most of the windows were broken, the external doors hung from their hinges or were gone altogether, and the walls that did still stand were soot smudged and in some cases, bloodstained. The smell of death hung in the air. There had been no opportunity to retrieve the bodies of the fallen yet. There were so many dead to inter and the Hellsing Estate was not high on the cleanup priority list.

Seras swayed on her feet when she got out of the truck and the memories of that night came back to her with full force. Pip's gentle voice reminded her that death was not the end as they both could attest.

Yumiko came around the front of the truck, but turned away when she saw Hellsing's creature sit heavily against one of the tires. It was too intimate a moment to watch when Sir Integra put her good hand on the weeping vampire's head and gently stroked her hair.

She walked away from the two other women to give them the opportunity to grieve with some privacy. It made no sense to her that a vampire would be crying over death. Wasn't it the reason for their existence?

The outer walls of the estate were mostly rubble. There were occasional patches of gore but there were no bodies. Yumiko wandered, looking for anything that had been left whole, but there was nothing. When she thought she'd given them enough time, she returned to the truck. She caught the tail end of their conversation before they noticed her and stopped abruptly.

"I will not consider it, Seras. Do not ask again."

"We wouldn't ask if we hadn't come so close to losing you. We can't afford –"

Yumiko filled the gap, "I just had a look around, but didn't see any signs of anyone left living."

Seras stood and wiped her face on the sleeve of her jacket. She looked around and seemed to be listening. "There are humans nearby." She walked away from the other two women toward the wreckage of her home. "Yumiko, please help Sir Integra while I look around."

She moved silently through the ruins. Every bloodstain held a memory for her, but the expected human bodies were nowhere in evidence. The feel of humans led her out behind the mansion. Seras saw three human forms working in the graveyard and Seras knew exactly who they were.

"I thought you bastards knew we were supposed to meet up in Calais after the dust settled?" she barked at them in Pip's best martial tones.

The three men whirled around; the alarm on their faces was replaced with relief and warmth. The man in the middle, heavier-set and older than the other two – _Rolfe_, Pip supplied the name – Rolfe smiled and snapped a salute, which the other two men quickly echoed.

Pip's grin graced Seras' face as she returned their salute.

"Sir, we weren't finished here. We couldn't leave the rest of the Geese without a proper goodbye."

Seras could see that the men had been busy. Fleming's arm was splinted; Rolfe and Louison must have dug the graves on their own. She swallowed against the rock that had lodged in her throat when she saw a makeshift cross with Pip's hat and eye patch slung over the arms. _Any chance you'll let me wear those?_ he asked wistfully.

She could feel the men watching her as she walked on numb legs to Pip's grave. The tears that she'd thought were passed began to flow again as she replaced the hospital's eye patch with Pip's and her hat with Pip's familiar bush hat. _I'm not gone. I'm right here. Why are you crying for me? Don't cry. Silly girl. _

_All I ever got was one kiss, Pip. Just one. It's not fair!_

_Did anyone ever tell you that life was fair? Seras, the only thing that's gone is the part that's least important anyway, and if you remember the break room where we met Doc, I'm pretty sure that I can give you more than just that one kiss. _

She looked over at their men. The last three Wild Geese had withdrawn to give her some privacy for her mourning. How strange it must seem to them, this woman – this vampire – who was both a damned creature and their commander.

_Of course, they aren't surprised, Seras, they've been telling me I'm a damned creature for years. _

Seras walked away from the grave with tears staining her face and laughter on her lips.

•••

Integra felt much lighter seeing that any of her mercenaries had survived. It was more than she had hoped for, and if there were any stairs left intact, they might be able to finish this task more quickly than she had anticipated.

As she surveyed the rubble for a way into the sub-basements, she could hear Pip filling them in on what had happened since Seras had left to defend Integra. The men were concerned about her condition, but they were professionals. She was relieved that they wouldn't be clucking over her like mother hens. People in their line of work learned to live with the ugly realities of war or they found another line of work.

The men had reported that there was sporadic ghoul activity after dark, but the ghouls were not acting in an organized manner. The mercenaries had scrounged enough ammunition during daylight hours to hold off the few creatures that had found them at night.

It took several hours to find a set of stairs that, while blocked, could be cleared enough to allow them access to the sub-levels. Integra did not want to be in the middle of some of the more dangerous areas of the Hellsing basements during the night. Instead, they were able to set up a camp of sorts in Seras' bedroom. With some of the debris blocking the stairs restored, they were in a more secure location than Rolfe, Louison and Fleming had had since the night Millennium attacked.

Seras excused herself to patrol the basement after a few hours. She told herself that it was just to provide additional security, but the fact of the matter was that all five humans had wounds, and the taint of blood in the air made it impossible for her to relax without images of feeding forcing themselves into her head.

She wandered the familiar halls of the basement, trying to lay to rest the ghosts that existed only in her head. She had passed one of the locked labs when something that seemed _off_ drew her back. She slipped off her human form in favor of shadows before slipping under the door to investigate.


	6. A Little Turbulence

Alucard hadn't enjoyed a plane trip like this, ever. Could there be anything more comical than being on a chartered commercial jetliner filled with Section XIII killers, with their crazed leader sitting across the aisle, and a tightly wound newly-turned vampire acting as their nanny? He laughed and Anderson's narrow glare of hatred only provoked a louder burst of merriment.

He watched Walter move in to attempt to smooth things over. Alucard paid no attention to what the Angel was saying to Anderson; instead he watched their body language. Walter instinctively kept a polite distance from the tall priest, but Alucard could see it wasn't necessary. Anderson's rage at vampires was still there, but it was tightly controlled. He was radically changed from the man he'd encountered in Brazil whose self-control had been virtually nonexistent.

Alucard didn't know whether he should be disappointed or not.

Anderson belonged to the Morrigan. He had forsaken his one God. He might claim to be loyal to the Catholic cause, but how could he be? Monotheism was something of a necessity with Catholics. They wouldn't want to share their paladin with a vampire demi-goddess. His lips twisted around a smile, or maybe not. Voodoo had adapted Catholic monotheism without a hitch. Maybe Anderson would be the father of a European version of voodoo with Morrigan as the substitute Mary.

Thoughts of the vampire who called herself the Morrigan fouled his good humor. He didn't move in his seat, but he could feel his mood spreading itself through the airplane, infecting most of the humans with his bleak temper. He could hear them shift in their seats as his discontent settled in their minds.

He pulled out of his contemplation of his enemy and her servant when Walter's face obstructed his vision. "Alucard, you need to rein yourself in. Not everyone here can withstand what you're putting out."

_Walter._ Why hadn't he thought of it before? His companion flinched when Alucard's eyes locked on his, but Alucard had more years behind him and the element of surprise. He broke through Walter's weak mental barriers _(I must work with him on those, later,)_ and traveled to the depths of the vampire's mind, hunting the trail he knew he'd find. There!

Walter jerked away from the snarl on the other vampire's face. Without conscious thought, his wires were spread between his hands, ready to tangle themselves around Alucard should he attempt to move. Walter watched, waiting to see if Alucard would calm himself or if his short unlife was going to end in a moment.

"Put the wires away, Angel. You won't be using those against me and we both know it," Alucard sneered.

Walter carefully retracted his wires and moved slowly back to his seat on the lid of his coffin. He moved with the exaggerated care one might use when confronted by a growling dog. "Would you care to explain what that little display was about, Alucard?"

There was no humor in Alucard's smile. "If you'd give it just a little thought, you'd know what precipitated my little show of temper. I'll give you a hint, what did Seras and I have in common before today?"

"The only thing that has changed between the two of you that I am aware of is that she is no longer your servant." Both vampires ignored Anderson's indrawn breath. "And what does Seras have to do with your temper?"

Alucard shook his head, "What do you and Seras _not_ have in common?"

Walter grimaced, "Socratic method is not your strong suit."

With an exasperated sigh, Alucard turned his attention to Anderson. He'd been watching the exchange between the two vampires and had obviously understood the import of Seras' freedom from Alucard. Would _he_ understand what Alucard had learned? "What do you and the Angel of Death have in common, Judas Priest?"

"I have nothing in common with Hellsing's servant, and ye know it."

"I know nothing of the sort."

"Alucard, I would appreciate if you would stop playing games with us. If you have information about me that _I_ don't have, do us the simple courtesy of telling us." Walter's tone was even, but Alucard could hear the undertone of anger building.

"No. I am not going to encourage you and the apostate in your intellectual laziness. I've given both of you ample information to see what I've seen."

Anderson understood first. He had the deciding piece of information that Walter did not. Seras Victoria had been released from her servitude by her Master. Walter did not have that in common with her. Walter and Anderson had one thing in common – _their_ Master. The Morrigan was the mother of all of Millennium's vampires through injection, but she was the direct sire of Millennium's elite – Walter included.

"Oh dear God in Heaven."

"Shouldn't you be praying to your Goddess, apostate? You should keep her in mind should you ever feel like planting one of those bayonets in your brother's heart." Alucard's mood had shifted mercurially and he was amused once more.

"Would one of the two of you care to explain this to me? I am most decidedly _not_ amused by this."

•••

In the end, it was Alucard who had told Walter. Anderson still refused to speak his shame aloud. Walter had never hated Alucard before, but the pleasure in his old companion's eyes made him hate the vampire in those moments. That Alucard could take pleasure in what, to Walter, was yet another violation of his soul - it was more of a demonstration of his monstrousness than the man was able to take.

He had thought he was free after breaking loose of Millennium's locks on the zeppelin, but it just an illusion. He kept feeling around in his mind, trying to find the leash that held him to a vampire he'd never seen, but he couldn't find it. As far as he could tell, he was as free now as he'd been while human. Knowing that, even though he couldn't feel the chains, he was still a slave made Walter ache to be free.

The remainder of the flight passed in silence. Walter took an empty seat a few aisles away from the two men. As far as he was concerned, they could kill each other and rip the plane out of the sky for all it mattered.

When the airplane hit the tarmac in Italy, he could see a number of personnel carrier-style lorries waiting at the edge of the strip. He assumed those were their transport to Rome.

As they taxied off of the runway, Anderson stood and moved to the front of the plane. He braced his hands against the overhead bins and addressed his warriors. "We have returned to Italy. Our country is overrun with the minions of Midian. Expect anyone to be an enemy. Traitors are everywhere and even someone ye've known since ye were a babe in arms could have been seduced by the devil's promises. There can be no mercy for those who would profane our holy land.

"There are weapons and ammunition awaiting us in the lorries. When the plane stops, get out and get moving immediately. I want us on the road to Rome in the next ten minutes. May God be with us as we cleanse our land of the demons that have invaded. 'Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.' Amen."

The plane had barely shuddered to a halt when an alarm sounded. When Walter looked around, he saw that Alucard had opened the rear emergency exit and leapt out onto the tarmac with his coffin already balanced on his shoulder. The sound of gunfire cut through the blaring alarm and Walter raced past the rising Iscariots to join Alucard as he lowered his coffin to the ground before returning fire.


	7. The Sound of Breaking

The sounds of gunfire roused the Iscariots on the airplane. Anderson was pushing through the rising priests toward the open back hatch shouting, "Ye'll stay right where ye are until we get ye some weapons," when he heard the distinctive sounds of Alucard's guns.

As much as he hated to admit it, the two Hellsing vampires would probably be able to handle almost anything out there. He leapt down onto the tarmac. But they weren't going to handle it without him.

Anderson's feet had hardly hit the tarmac when he was hit with a barrage of automatic weapons fire. The impact of bullets spread a murderous grin across his face, and the paladin ran without hesitation directly toward the line of lorries that was sheltering their attackers.

Behind him, the windows of the airplane were crowded with the faces of watching priests. Anderson had been forced to wait until they arrived in Italy to resupply his Iscariots with weapons, which meant that most of them were not much use against their attackers. The Vatican warriors had thrown almost everything they had into the breach in London, and the British government had not been kindly disposed toward its would-be conquerors. The Catholic warriors were lucky they'd been allowed to leave England at all, it was definitely asking too much for the Crown to supply the invaders with weapons, too.

One of the watching Iscariots, Father Alvin Davidoff, nudged Sister Heinkel, who was watching Anderson fixedly, and pointed to the tarmac between the plane and the lorries. Alucard stood in front of his coffin with his long red coat flaring and flapping around him. The observers assumed that his coat was moving in the wind, or perhaps with the impact of bullets. What they could not see from their perspective was that his coat was moving to intercept the bullets before they could touch Alucard's precious Last Domain. He was grinning a sharp white grin and firing his guns with casual precision, never missing and often killing more than one enemy with a single shot.

Wolfe looked around for Hellsing's other vampire; she was just wondering if he was less useful than they had been led to believe when a glint of silver caught her eye. She nudged Father Davidoff in return and the two of them watched Hellsing's newest vampire doing something that made no sense to either of them – the slender man in black was positioned between the plane and the line of lorries that shielded their attackers and dancing? He controlled whatever was making the silver flashes, but neither Wolfe nor the priest she was sharing a window with understood what the point of his antics was. They watched him step and turn across the landing surface like some sort of improvisational dancer who had been suddenly dropped in the middle of a war zone.

She and Davidoff exchanged a puzzled glance before returning their attention to the scene outside.

Wolfe didn't turn away from her fascination with the carnage that had erupted outside their airplane when she heard one of her compatriots whistle and murmur, "Holy sh–" Instead, she quickly surveyed the melee for the source of whatever had elicited such a response from a hardened Iscariot killer. Of course – their leader.

Anderson had found his enemies. There were some quiet cheers and exclamations from the warriors as they watched their section chief cut his way through their attackers. Bullets did not stop him from sweeping through the assembled enemies. Whoever had spoken up must have missed the sight of Alexander Anderson in London fighting toe to toe with vampires and winning again and again. This hardly compared in terms of ability to inspire awe.

Wolfe had heard him referred to as "Sword Dancer," and it was entirely true. Anderson was wed to his blades and he and his weapons moved together as a perfect partnership. Men fell in front of him and the priest shouted with giddy glee and imprecations against his enemies. Wolfe could hear his voice drift through the open door of the plane above the roar of bullets and the screams of the dying, but she could only hear tone, not words. The tone said that Anderson was enjoying himself.

The scene outside was a chaos of gun muzzle flashes, flickers of silver from thrown barrages of bayonets, and the subtle silver glint of whatever the butler was playing with.

Then everything came to a halt – no more gunfire, no more thrown blades from Anderson, no more impromptu dance performance from the younger vampire.

The silence was not deafening. It was filled with the ringing of their ears from the noise that had come in through the open hatch at the back of the plane. Through that, all of them clearly heard Alucard's shout, "Is that all you have? Is that _really_ all?"

•••

Shadows spread under the door to the lab – shadows with gleaming red eyes that opened to survey the laboratory.

Seras was not bothered by the lack of illumination in the room. A fine vampire she'd be if a little bit of gloom kept her from her work. Looking around, though, she didn't see what had drawn her back here when she'd passed in the hallway. She saw no human forms, nothing moved, but still she had a sense of things being wrong. She had learned some vital lessons about trusting her instincts – the predatory instincts of a vampire were what were needed to keep Sir Integra safe and Seras was not going to fall short on her commitment to Integra or to Hellsing.

_Don't forget me, _piped up Pip with a mental huff. _I'm going to help you keep the boss safe, too._

_How could I forget you? People talk about soulmates, but they have no idea what that word really means. _

Which was a problem to dwell on another time. Seras had a feeling that there would come a day when either she, or Pip, or perhaps both of them, would want this cozy arrangement of theirs to change. Right now, in the midst of an ongoing war with an enemy that had already taken so much from both of them, both were happy to have each other to lean on.

Seras felt briefly warmer when Pip's thoughts brushed over hers with reassurance and affection.

She spread her shadows across the room, touching everything just to reassure herself that everything was as it seemed. Everything seemed right until she spread out to the far corner of the room and found that the darkness there wrapped around her questing tendrils of shadow and bathed her in a sudden, acidic pain.

Seras suppressed a scream and tried to pull away from whatever it was that was hurting her. Darkness that made the simple lack of illumination in the pitch black basement room seem daylight bright flowed out of the corner to envelop more of Seras' shadowy form.

•••

Alucard's face twisted with dissatisfaction as he surveyed the destruction he and the paladin had wrought. It had been too easy. Surely Millennium weren't scraping the bottom of the barrel already were they? That would be disappointing. After the setbacks in London, Alucard had looked forward to straightforward carnage and a bit of a challenge as a remedy.

So far, Millennium wasn't delivering.

He sighed out an irritated growl and picked up his coffin again. "There are no more humans with guns here, Apostate, you can let your little flock off the plane now." The vampire strode across the tarmac to the lorries and opened the back of one. "They didn't bring your weapons," he noted. With a careless shrug he loaded his coffin into the empty cargo space.

Anderson nudged over a body with a toe and looked at it. They were dressed in Italian army uniforms. More traitors? Or had they been innocent pawns manipulated in the hands of a traitor or traitors? He said a prayer for their souls; at least they had died human. He prayed for their sakes that they'd been blameless tools who would see a brighter reward in the afterlife.

After he finished with his prayers, he returned to the airplane. By the time he arrived, Walter was just jumping down carrying his own coffin to join Alucard's. The priest looked at the vampire with contempt. "And what were ye doing while we fought? I saw you flittering around doing nothing."

Walter raised an eyebrow and pointed to the ground around his feet. After setting his coffin gently down on the ground, he bent over and picked up a few of the fragments that he had pointed to and held them out in the palm of his hand for Anderson to look at.

The priest poked at the dull bits of metal with a big finger and looked at Walter again, "So?"

"So, Father Anderson, that 'flittering around' that I was doing kept your airplane full of assassins from going up in one very large, and no doubt very holy fireball." He poked around at the fragments in his hand for a moment before coming up with two pieces that he fit together. He held up the bullet for Anderson's appraisal before releasing it to fall to the ground in two pieces again.

He met the priest's angry green eyes with his calm red ones. "I may not be as loud as Alucard, but I am useful in my own right. Don't underestimate me just because I don't find it necessary to push your buttons to amuse myself."

He turned away to load his coffin next to Alucard's while Anderson organized his people to retrieve all weapons and ammunition from the bodies of their attackers that they could.

•••

Acid. Holy water. Burning tar. Seras screamed silently and writhed in the grip of whatever it was that had hold of her. The pain was so all encompassing that her actions were broken down to the basest of fight or flight reactions.

Alucard would have been proud. Seras' flight reaction was easily and quickly drowned out by a red rage that pushed the importance of the pain down to nothing. Seras knew that she was in pain, she could feel the damage being done to the shadowy substance that was her body, but she also realized that it didn't matter at all.

She hit her attacker, whatever it was, with a focused anger that would have surprised anyone who still thought of her as just the Police Girl. _I am a true Nosferatu, and you are filth!_ She poured her contempt into her retaliation, using it to paralyze the thing that held her in its grip for the moment it took for her to call the rest of her body, her shadows, up into a wave that dropped and swept her attacker back into the corner.

Seras used her will, augmented by Pip's, to envelop her opponent's will in the same way her shadows were enveloping the other's. She compressed herself around the other, drawing her shadows in to crush the shadows that had been burning her moments before.

The fight drifted off of the physical plane. What was important was no longer the bodies involved, but the minds. Seras pushed past the memories that her opponent tossed up at her as distractions. _Try something new. I tore apart the last vampire who tried to use memories against me. _

She retaliated with a memory of her choosing. She shoved the memory of touching the Morrigan's mind down into her opponent's psyche and held on with all her mental and physical strength while their shadows spasmed and lurched.

Maybe Seras would have lost. Maybe Seras _should_ have lost. But she had an advantage that few vampires would make the necessary sacrifice to have – she had a second person willingly inside of her, supplementing her strength and providing his own not inconsiderable will to her own.

Together Pip and Seras crushed their foe out of the shadows and back into her solid body. Seras resolved her form back into her comfortably familiar human semblance and nudged the body at her feet with a toe. The girl on the floor pulled her knees up to her chest and wept unashamedly while Seras looked on, wondering what to do next.


End file.
